Katherine Jenkins Performs for Rhino

On Saturday, 10 June, Katherine Jenkins OBE, world renowned classical singer, performed at a private Jaguar Land Rover event in aid of Wilderness Foundation Global, of whom she is an ambassador.

Katherine Jenkins and her artist/film maker husband, Andrew Levitas, were announced as ambassadors of Wilderness Foundation Global in April 2015 after spending time in South Africa being exposed to the rhino poaching crisis and taking part in a rhino notching exercise. WFG is the only international conservation organisation born out of and operating in Africa, which is dedicated explicitly to wilderness awareness and protection through their three focus areas of Species, Spaces and People.

During her performance, she said: “Through the Wilderness Foundation, in early 2015, when I was 3 months pregnant, my husband and I had the incredible experience of darting a rhino at the Shamwari Game reserve near Port Elizabeth. It's hard to talk about this without getting emotional. I stroked and comforted the four-year-old calf whilst we helped with performing the necessary tests. I held her in my arms and felt her breath on my face and her heartbeat in my hands. The take away for me was this – I was carrying a child that may never see a rhino in the wild and I cannot and will not stand back and let that happen."

Due to her passion for wildlife and the protection of endangered species, specifically the rhino, Katherine Jenkins has donated her fee for the event – held at the Rosewood London Hotel for Jaguar Land Rover's top UK Retailers – to Wilderness Foundation Global. This generous donation will be utilised for the Forever Wild Rhino Protection Initiative, which focuses on the protection of this dwindling species in South Africa.